Some firms plan to shut on Monday
Posted on Sunday, April 30, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/153232/
While many American businesses are taking a wait-andsee approach to the outcome of Monday’s “Day Without Immigrants,” others plan to suspend at least some of their operations.
Some national Hispanic organizations are calling for immigrants to boycott work, school and shopping Monday to demonstrate their economic impact on the United States. The boycotts, along with rallies planned in some cities, are organized by opponents of a proposed federal law that, among other things, would stiffen penalties against illegal immigrants.
Organizers also plan a “Nothing Gringo” day Monday in Mexico to boycott U. S.-owned companies with operations in the country. Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc., as well as numerous other U. S. companies, operate subsidiaries in Mexico.
Several businesses, including two meat companies, plan to close operations Monday.
Cargill Inc., which produces Honeysuckle White turkeys, will close 10 beef, pork and turkey plants, including the Springdale turkey plant, spokesman Mark Klein said.
The Springdale plant employs 1, 100 people, he said.
“Cargill Meat Solutions made the decision that if there was enough interest among employees to observe May 1, that we wouldn’t run,” Klein said. “There was enough interest that this was the right thing to do.”
Margarita Solorzano, executive director of the Hispanic Women’s Organization of Arkansas in Springdale and a member of the Arkansas Coalition for a Better Future, said the immigration system is broken.
The coalition is not taking a position on the economic boycott but wants to show that Hispanics are forming into groups and will continue to fight legally for more rights, she said.
“We need comprehensive immigration reform,” Solorzano said. “With the economy the way it is, it means that all workers in this country are needed, especially in this area with the low unemployment.”
A bill passed by the House of Representatives would make illegal immigrants felons and erect a fence along most of the U. S.-Mexico border, while a Senate bill would offer guest worker status and a chance to gain citizenship.
Immigrant labor is critical to many agricultural operations, trade groups say.
“Meat plants must be fully staffed in order to operate efficiently,” said Dave Ray, spokesman for the American Meat Institute. “Since the beginning of the 20 th century, the U. S. meat industry has long been a magnet for foreign-born workers because we pay competitive wages for jobs that require hard work, but minimal previous training and often no experience.”
About 30 percent of 114, 000 employees at Springdale-based Tyson Foods, the world’s largest meat company, are Hispanic. The company expects most of its processing facilities, which include 54 chicken plants, to operate Monday.
However, Tyson said it will close a dozen plants, including nine beef and pork plants and one poultry plant. Tyson, which does not operate beef and pork plants in Arkansas but does run about 15 chicken and prepared foods plants in the state, did not release the locations of the affected operations.
“A small percentage may not operate because of factors such as market conditions that permit scheduling changes and the potential shortage of workers,” spokesman Gary Mickelson said. “While we understand the sentiment behind the May 1 st events and support comprehensive immigration reform, we are not encouraging workers to participate in the rallies.”
Tyson supports better control over the country’s borders and more tools to help companies verify workers’ hiring documents.
“We also support a guestworker program and a process for undocumented workers already in the U. S. to be able to earn permanent legal status,” Mickelson said.
Simmons Foods Inc., a Siloam Springs-based chicken producer, does not plan to close any plants, a spokesman said.
Several other industries also would be impacted if large numbers of Hispanic workers take the day off.
Bentonville-based Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest employer of Hispanics. According to the company’s Web site, more than 150, 000 of the retailer’s 1. 3 million U. S. employees are Hispanic.
“We are not entirely sure what to expect but will deal with employee shortages on a store-by-store basis,” said John Simley, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Stores. “We are taking it seriously and will monitor the situation throughout the day.”
A spokesman at the Northwest Arkansas Home Builders Association said that the organization was unaware of the “Day Without Immigrants,” as were several other construction companies contacted.
The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Bentonville and parts of southwestern Missouri, had 11, 700 workers in the natural resources, mining and construction classification in March, up from 10, 400 for the same period last year, according to a report from the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services.
The MSA also had 15, 800 workers in the leisure and hospitality classification in March, up from 15, 700 in the same period last year, according to the report.
Northwest Arkansas hotel general managers said few workers requested Monday off and that workers had to follow their employers’ time-off policies.
“We don’t anticipate a large impact because Monday is typically a slow day, ’’ said David Lang, the general manager at the 248-room Embassy Suites Hotel in Rogers.
Matt Goodwin, director of the Northwest Arkansas Workers ’ Justice Center, which opened in Springdale and Fayetteville in December, said immigrants are realizing the American right to free speech.
“ Arkansas is an at-will work state, so you can be fired,” he said, but added that area immigrant workers say they plan to mark the day with some type of action, either an economic boycott or a demonstration.
“It’s happening. I don’t think it’ll fizzle out,” Goodwin said.
The Pew Hispanic Center in Washington reports that about 4 percent of the 146 million workers in the country in 2004 were illegal immigrants.
Patriots on Watch, a newly formed group that opposes illegal immigrants working in the country, is against a guest worker program. The group protested outside of Tyson Foods’ employment center in Lowell last week and plans to picket outside other poultry companies in the region.
“We’re not racist,” said Patriots on Watch member Gary Windham. “All we’re wanting to do is try to get the government to enforce the laws on the books already.”
The group plans a demonstration Monday in Springdale and is urging Americans to spend money.
“If you do need groceries, wait until Monday,” said Windham, 54, and a truck driver by trade. “If you need to get a tank of gas, wait until Monday to fill up.”
Some restaurants are expected to close Monday. According to the National Restaurant Association, 1. 6 million of the 12. 5 million restaurant workers in the country are foreign-born.
“We oppose the House-passed enforcement-only immigration bill,” said John Gay, senior vice president of government affairs and public policy for the National Restaurant Association, which has been working since 1999 to reform immigration laws. “For the most part, we are on the same page as our workers on immigration reform issues. It is somewhat ironic if they boycott a restaurant, because the industry is already behind the goals of what they’re trying to do.”
Chris Rothwell, co-owner of the Pollo Rico restaurants in Rogers and Springdale, is closing his businesses on Monday.
Rothwell closed after several of his employees, who are predominantly Hispanic, asked for part of the day off. Monday is also a traditionally slow business day, and he needed to close for repair work anyway.
“It gives us a chance to get some work done, and it will send a positive message to our employees that we are behind them,” he said.
Elias Cervantes, who opened Cecilia’s Mexican Grill in Fayetteville in early April, said he had not decided by Friday afternoon whether to close the restaurant Monday.
“All of our employees are Hispanic, and we’ll respect their decision whatever they want to do,” said his sister Cecilia Cervantes, 29. “We are here in this country to improve our lives, and [we ] help the economy. We are not here to hurt anybody. We just want to have a good life.”
According to a U. S. Census Bureau report released this month, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses nationally grew by 31 percent to nearly 1. 6 million from 1997 to 2002.
Several Northwest Arkansas, Hispanic-owned small businesses are considering closing Monday, but some owners said they would only close if all Hispanic-owned businesses did the same.
“We are still debating it,” said Gaby Cruz, whose family owns El Potrero, a Springdale grocery store that caters to Hispanics. “But if we do decide to do it, it’s going to be all of us.” Information for this article was contributed by Laurie Whalen, Stacey Roberts and John Krupa of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.